Interwoven Voices:
Heteroglossia and Dialogue in Lvovich’s Multilingual Self
Statement of the Problem
The past two decades of research on identity in second language acquisition (SLA)
often refer to poststructuralist notions of identity that interpret it as “[…] multiple,
a site of struggle, and subject to change across time and place […]” (Norton, 2012,
Location, 3). One autobiographical case study that alludes to this notion of identity
is Lvovich (1997). Her collection of stories describe her process of acquiring French
while also revealing the difficulties of growing up as a member of a marginalized
community in Soviet Russia. In short, Lvovich threads a narrative that weaves
together her social, ethnic, and sociolinguistic identities while also situating her
story within the narratives of her family members. Drawing on Bakhtinian notions
of dialogue, the following poster addresses the dialogic and heteroglossic nature of
her opus.
Unpacking the Problem
While not directly referring to Bakhtin, Lvovich (1997) demonstrates to readers that
her story of acquiring French is bound to others. She writes:
It all started when I was 5 or 6 years old. No, before I was born, with the turn
of the century generation, before and after the Bolshevik revolution in Russia,
during my grandparents' generation. This is how their stories, viewed from the
end of the 20th century in America, are interwoven with mine. (Lvovich, 1997, p.
2)
By drawing attention to the fact that her journey of learning French began before
she was born, Lvovich suggests that her stories are not only “interwoven,” but they
are also part of a larger dialogue. Figures 1.1 and 1.2 provide context to the origin
of her French story. With this in mind, Bakhtin (1984) theorizes dialogue as “a
plurality of consciousness, one that cannot in principle be fitted within the bounds
of consciousness” (p. 110). In essence, Lvovich story is bound to others’ stories, and
future conversations will knowingly or unknowingly be in conversation with her
narrative.
This poster features a select number of passages from Lvovich (1997) in order to
demonstrate how her text is dialogic and heteroglossic. Firstly, this poster
compares reflections on identity with Bakhtin’s notable comment about speech: “I
live in a world of others’ words. And my entire life is an orientation in this world, a
reaction to others’ words” (1986, p. 143). It then discusses the symbolic and
material effects of Lvovich’s explorations before discussing future steps in research.
Figure 1.1 : Illustration of data excerpt
Data:
s
Contact Personal Reflection
Kristen Cypret Reflecting on Lvovich’s language learning
The University of Kansas
process through narrative is another way to
Madamecypret@Ku.edu extend the conversation she started. What
417.389.5478 follows is a poem I wrote while meditating on
her narrative.
Kristen Cypret , Doctoral Student
The University of Kansas
Unpacking the Problem (cont)
1 The story of my fluency in French is the story of building a language identity. It
was generated by my love of French culture, traditional historical ties between In living in Soviet Russia, Lvovich was “Living in a world of other’s words”(Bakhtin,
2
3 the two countries, but most of all by my personal way of dealing with the 1986, p. 143). Her Jewishness was seen as inferior, and she adopted a different
4 political regime and the sociocultural bias it created. Becoming
an émigré de l'intérieur as the only spiritual and moral salvation made a foreign discourse with its own dialogue in order to build a liberating identity. In lines 6-12, she
5
6 language belong to me: It was my Dasein, my being-in-the- world. The tragic suggests that becoming “French” helped her avoid the fate of several others.
7 situation of the Jewish intelligentsia in the Soviet Union, many of whom were
deprived of professional careers and formal education, stimulated their learning It is important to note that living in this French realm carries its own heteroglossic
8
9 beyond the official norms and frames, creating various unique ways for the weight. Her French identity in Russia mingles with voices of the oppressed in her
10 reconstruction of self-esteem. Some became political dissidents and took
enormous risks; some went insane; some turned to their religion or converted motherland, voices of resistance, and voices of liberation. In other words, to speak
11
12 to another one. I became French. (Lvovich, 1997, p. 2) French, is to stand in opposition of the identity imposed up on her. These points are
13 further illustrated in her reflection. She writes: “I did not have to exhibit my French
And then it started to make sense to me. I did not have to continue being
14 French in America. I did not have to expose my French self as a defense shield identity in order not to be Russian, Jewish, Soviet. I did not have to create a
15 against the society. I did not have to exhibit my French identity in order not to
16 fantasy of the noble, old, and beautiful French culture. I did not have to suffer
be Russian, Jewish, Soviet. I did not have to create a fantasy of the noble, old,
17
18
and beautiful French culture. I did not have to suffer from being exiled in my
own country: I was not the émigré de l'intéieur -- I was
from being exiled in my own country […]” (p. 72).
19
20
the émigré de l''extérieur now! My role is not seeking refuge in language
learning; it is seeking a normal, healthy, and better life. I could build an
Material & Symbolic Effects
21 American Self and a real life with it, reinventing myself with the language once The symbolic effects of the dialogic nature of Lvovich’s story is far-reaching. On a
22 again, engaging myself in a new journey, with adventures, people, interesting
23 literature, cinema, music. However, this time I would do it for a healthy purpose personal note, acquiring French is not simply tied to her classroom experiences
24 -- for taking the responsibility of the real life, with a real career, with real because she views French as more than words and sounds. It is her “defense shield”
25 benefits for my family. (Lvovich, 1997, p. 72)
(ll. 14). She suggests that her story had a life of its own during her grandparents’
26 “The transformation that had occurred in me and made sense of my generation, and the language served as the threads that bound her family history
27 different selves, nourished and expressed by different languages, led
28 me to the understanding of the multilingual personality as an enriched together.
29 and harmonic social identity, the whole” (Lvovich, 1997, p. 105) Secondly, Lvovich argues that her struggle to learn English forced her to see that she
has several multilingual selves. This means that her awareness of self has increased.
Multimodal Data More importantly, the analysis shows that in being a heteroglossic text, Lvovich’s
Figure 1.2 Figure 1.3
words are embedded in discourses that have symbolic effects in social and political
realms. Bailey (2007) highlights that “heteroglossia is “about intertextuality and [the
social and political consequences of diverse speech types and interactions] are about
the ways that talk in the here-and-now draws meaning from past instances of talk” (p.
272). Her French identity as resistance is meshed with past conversations on
oppositional practices in her home country.
Next Steps
Future research with Lvovich (1997)should consider methodologies that refer to poststructural theories of
identity, current research in translanguaging (Garcia & Leiva (2014), and heteroglossic spaces (Flores & Schissel,
"The author's father's family, circa 1932, Ukraine. "Natasha's parents in 1949, on
(2014). In this vein, one might explore a Bakhtinian approach to language analysis, which Holt (2003) refers to as
The two children in the front are Natasha's father, their honeymoon in Leningrad
Yury (right) and his brother Georgui (left); their (Saint Petersburg)" (Lvovich, 1997 the Bakhtin perspective because “[…when] judiciously employed, [it] probes language and life in ways that point
parents, Yulia and Yakov (above left). Yulia's parents
up alternative entry points to some of [Conversation Analysis]CA’s persistent problems” (p. 225).
and her brother are to the right" (Lvovich, 1997)
After the Bolshevik revolution  References
when I responded to her in French,  Bakhtin, Discourses and the novel (1981). In The Dialogic Imagination, pp. 259-422
My mother changed in the years following the
migration 
from our apartment on the outskirts of Moscow 
when I insisted on being called Pauline, 
When I chewed on her rosary beads. 
Bakhtin, M.M. (1984). Problems of Dostoevsky’s poetics. (C. Emerson, Trans.). in Emerson, C.
(Ed.).University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN
Bakhtin, M.M. (1986). Speech genres and other Late Essays.( V.W. McGee, Trans). In
to a rickety hotel in the banlieue of Paris.  I used to think they were pebbles from heaven  Emerson, C. & Holquist, M. (Eds). University of Texas Press, Austin, TX.
Her eyes, once the color of Sulphur crystals  until I cracked a tooth on one of the tagua pearls, Flores, N. + Schissel, (2014). Dynamic Bilingualism as the Norm: Envisioning a Heteroglossic
hid behind the gauzy veil of her day hat,  her snarl, the beak of Mother Russia lunging forward. Approach to Standards-Based Reform. TESOL Quarterly, 48(3): 454-479.
a mess of tattered ribbons—  Garcia, O. & Leiva, C. (2014). Theorizing and enacting translanguaging for social justice.
In Heteroglossia as practice and pedagogy. New York/London: Springer. pp. 199-216
A farewell to the bourgeois past 
Lvovich, N. (1997a). The multilingual self: An inquiry into language learning. Mahwah, New
that followed us like an unkindness of ravens. Jersey: Routledge.
Her nostrils flared Norton, B. (2012). Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation (2nd ed.).
Tonawanda, NY: Multilingual Matters.